This is a tutorial assuming you only have a computer and internet connection. Specifically, this is so you can play TokiMemo on your computer and NOT a tutorial for Flashcarts. Normally, I would try out various other emulators before writing something out like this but I’ve only had an hour to spare everyday for awhile — maybe later — so this tutorial is for playing TokiMemo with an English Patch on DeSmuME.

You’ll need:Winrar or 7zip or some other type of archive manipulatorDeSmuME or some other NDS emulator
Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side: First Love Plus ROM (google it)English PatchxDelta GUI or some other patcher

Instructions:

1. Download all that you need. Install everything but the ROM and English Patch. (Personally, ignoring the archiving programs, I usually just install everything in a single folder for games.) For those who’ve never encountered compressed files before, just right-click the mentioned item and extract it either ‘here’ or to ‘filename/’ (for Winrar).
2.Now, put the ROM and the English patch in the same folder — you could make it more organized by doing this in the Roms subfolder for DeSmuME.
3. The translation team for the project has a great tutorial for applying the patch. I feel I’d be redundant, so follow that tutorial and you should have a new ROM, in the same folder, with a ‘_patched’ added to the end of the name. Congratulations, you now have an English copy of TokiMemoGS1+.
4.Open up DeSmuME.
5.Go to File->Open ROM.
6.Find the patched ROM and start it up (it might take a few seconds).
7.And to start you off, here are some very useful links: For Your Name. A general walkthrough. Great Calculators and Tidbits.

Extra:

It’s not that hard to actually get your guy (even if he’s Kei — I actually found Hazuki rather easy to get) as long as you remember to up your correlating stats for the person. I recommend just mostly upping your stats in the first year, immediately starting a job as soon as you can, and remember that on the 23rd of December the Furisode is 30% off (granted, clothing for the first year gets easier in subsequent games) but even that’d be pretty tight for first year (I just ditch the yukata unless I have cash to spare since the boosts are basically the same as wearing their favorite styles). Remember that you’ll need a dress for the Christmas party too.

There’s an English Patch in the works for TokiMemoGS2! And you can play that — the skinship system is waaaaay better in this. (Since the publishing of this post, the Patch is completed.)

There is a third in the series though it’s completely untranslated yet. There are ROMs floating around and some walkthroughs too, if you want. (Four words: Two Guys At Once.)

Honestly, I find playing Japanese Games with voice acting to be the BEST way to learn Japanese over anime and manga — but you would need to somewhat understand a bit of listening and writing in Japanese first.

I might make a tutorial on how to play Japanese computer otome games with translations later.

Of course, I recommend that you buy the original game in support of the Japanese game industry. Plus, imagine the skinship capabilities with your actual NDS! You can poke at bishies during those boring car rides with your ‘rents! (Basically, I only wrote this tutorial to have non-Japanese speakers get a chance to play/understand otome games — the iconic TokiMemo series especially.) Trust me, reverse harems otome games have replay value and you practically don’t even need the translations the third go around; if you like it, buy it.

The emulator depends on CPU usage so the lag you’re experiencing can be fixed by closing programs that are running (for browsers, just viewing already opened tabs are okay). Try closing everything but DeSmuME, if that doesn’t work, there are some settings under Config you can tinker with — under Sound and Emulation Settings, if I remember correctly.

Ciaossu!

Liking and/or rating a post would be appreciated, just to tell me people are actually reading this.
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-Kei